Kids react to the original Game Boy [VIDEO]

If you’re like me and grew up in the 80s and 90s, that green dot matrix screen of the original Game Boy probably holds a special place in your heart. Despite only being around 25 years old, in the realm of technology that is truly ancient. Kids React To is a YouTube series that showcases several kids being introduced to technology of the past. Past examples include kids being shown a rotary telephone and asked if they knew what it was.

This particular episode focuses on the Game Boy, which some kids immediately recognize as the great-grand-father of the Nintendo 3DS they’ve been exposed to. Others can’t seem to focus on anything except the fact that the screen remains green even when you turn it off. Either way, it’s interesting to see kids react to a device that started the handheld craze for Nintendo, 25 years ago.

I watch this from time to time he really is the smartest kid there. I guess he just knows how to express his thoughts and opinions a lot better the rest.

SmashFinale

I personally can’t stand these react videos. It’s just something i have against these videos that make me want to lose my head.

C4

It looks fake to some degree and also a bad set-up. Why show accessories that were bad even in 1990? Why not Super Mario Land which is still a solid albeit easy platformer. Also it ran 10+ hours on AA batteries, 5+ hours on rechargeables, longer then lot of todays devices when gaming. It even came with headphones that Apple invented 12 years later

The young me back then didn’t like Tetris at first either…

If you ignore all positives I think it’s no wonder what reactions you get.

Nothing5555

What you didn’t like Tetris!!! Actually for me Tetris was the reason my sister bought the gameboy when it came out and by proxy the gameboy ended up mostly being played by my brother and me.

I have to thank Tetris and my sister for providing me with my cherish handheld gaming experiences of my youth.

Tra Allen

I will have to agree with C4 in some way. If you gone do something like that at least show a game on it that was not basic stacking blocks. Not saying Tetris was bad but it did seem like they set the gameboy up for the kill.

Rick Valenta

One of the unique joys of gaming for me growing up was the hardware. I had a Gameboy, but I remember a classmate coming in with a game gear with a TV tuner and thinking it was the coolest thing ever. And another friends had an Atari Lynx II that looked like a spaceship. It’s sad that kids these days have to fumble around on anonymous looking phones with some 99 cent cut the fruit app…

Christopher Acuna

I had a Lynx! It was Terrible and Awesome! At the same time lol….Wonder what happened to it. It’s probably still in my Mom’s Attic tucked away in a box somewhere lol. Never got a Gameboy :(….parents wouldn’t get me one. Did end up getting a Gameboy Color though! Best times of my life were on that little machine. /cry

Razo_E

I had a Sega Nomad. I thought I was the shit, even if I had to carry an AC adapter everywhere I went.

lonewolf

This looks like a great qoute

Cubester_64

Well of course! Genesis on the go!

Colton Kelsey

And Fappy birds. Meant flappy cough cough.

Epicstuf

YogiGRB

i had the exact same situation whahahaha, fun times though

Christian Schoff

Strategy for kids: Want to play N64? Beat a Super Nintendo game first. Want to play Game Boy Color? Beat a Game Boy game first. That will be the only way my kids get to the point of being able to play the latest system.

MerryBlind .

Same. I’m holding on my old consoles and Legos for the day I have kids, to give them a proper education.

Michael Legault

Same here, I’m hiding a decent size box of old school ninja turtles and a couple of the play sets in my basement for when my boy is a little older… Planning to just drop it in his lap one day lol Also have a respectable game collection of old school games… I can’t wait but he’s just over a year and a half.

Darius

HAHAHA i love this

Christopher Acuna

With the WiiU you don’t have to worry about swapping out systems. Just sayin.

Jacob Juul

I liked the guy in the green shirt.. the other ones.. omg..

D.M.T

Kids these days….calling the grandfather of handheld gaming devices a piece of shit.. SMH…

matthew garcia

Don’t worry it goes down the line. Kids of the future will be calling 3ds, vita, and iPad a piece of shit to

D.M.T

Seems like the future isn’t bright. Look at the current gen, it’s worse than the previous gen (PS3, X360, Wii) and the previous gen was a piece of shit compared to the generations before it.

matthew garcia

Very true

http://obaforums.wordpress.com DragonSilths

That’s because power and graphics have taken over. Nobody cares about gameplay anymore.

FutureFox

If “piece of shit” means greatest device ever made for gaming, then yes. Yes it is indeed a piece of shit.

http://obaforums.wordpress.com DragonSilths

For once you and I can agree on something.

YoG99

Gameboy … oh my god, good old memories. It was september 89, I turned 9 and got this as a birthday present. Couple of years later, I sold it to buy a GameGear. Every single day since then I take a moment to regret this decision

Peter Lythaby

Yes I remember selling mine as well with about 20 carts. Lasted about 3 weeks and had to buy again!

Nothing5555

Why, why did you guys sell your gameboys! My cousing had a game gear and an atari Lynx, while having colors and better graphics the one thing i remember was the batteries did not last very long.

Peter Lythaby

It was a moment of madness that I corrected within the month lol

http://obaforums.wordpress.com DragonSilths

Should never sell a Nintendo Console. Even if it would save you from being homeless, be a homeless man with a Nintendo Console and thats all you need it life lol.

FutureFox

As simple as the inputs were, its a little disturbing how they couldn’t figure out how to turn the Gameboy on. Simple reasoning skills not included with this “next-gen.”

Nothing5555

LoL so true… they are not used to reactive push buttons to turn things on.

Jeff Jackson

I grew up with my 3ds and my brother gave me his gameboy color I love it so much just wish I had more games

Kay Wrobel

Oh boy! This just prooves how spoiled children of this generation really are and how little appreciation for history they are being taught by their parents (i.m.o.). I am glad that some of them were able to appreciate the GameBoy for what it was back then and the impact it had on today’s devices: revolutionary.

I also find it very disturbing that many of them have Apple products to “play” with. Those are not cheap. I would not hand my kid a $400 device. Just not happening. I would maybe purchase a bottom-of-the-line Android tablet for $60, that should do it for the most part.

Just recently revisited some of the games that I have loaded on my own Android tablet, and, goodness gracious, are those “free” games add-laden to the brim, up to the point of being annoying. Of course with a dedicated gaming device, you don’t have to deal with that.

My wifes sisters has bought tablets to their kids, using them like electronic nannies.
I will slap her, if she tries to buy one for our kid.
I’m waiting for next Nintendo handheld, might get that for our kid.

Kay Wrobel

GameBoy HD FTW. So powerful that it can produce PS5-like graphics and can wirelessly blast an HDMI signal to the TV for a more immersive experience. Nintendo, take my money!

Yeah like I said, “whatever”, as in “whatever Nintendo handheld you wish”. Much better suited for kids than a stupid tablet.

Kay Wrobel

Oh I know! I was speaking generally, if I would do something like that, I wouldn’t go with expensive tablets. I have a Wii U at home and let my son play with it every once in a while. He likes to play 3D World and let Princess Peach or Luigi jump off a cliff. LOL. Good thing I have copied him a save that has ~120 lives available

But yeah, you’re right. It would have to be a dedicated device. Unfortunately I think I already broke my own rule. He already has a tablet. Though I didn’t buy it for him, but his uncle had a spare that he gave him. And I loaded a few games on them that he can play with. That said, he seems real keen right now on Nintendo. Especially now that he’s seen the MK8 characters at McDonald’s.

MerryBlind .

Get him some VC title on the eShop before he gets too old and gets too exposed to modern gaming. Like Super Mario World, or Zelda A Link to the Past. I’m sure he’ll love Super Mario World. I mean… who doesn’t?

Kay Wrobel

Yeah, I got the Super Luigi Bros VC unlocked from 3D World, and he likes that one. I also showed him the original Donkey Kong. Luckily, kids of his age are completely oblivious to FPS, Shaders, Lighting effects and all the modern stuff that some care more about rather than gameplay.

MerryBlind .

Right, that’s why they have to be exposed to ‘retro’ stuff at a young age, otherwise they won’t appreciate it once they know, and have seen, more.

I have to say, I have come to care a lot about fps, resolution, and visual in general in recent years (thanks to the PS3/HDTV era), maybe even too much, which made me make the jump to PC gaming to get the best IQ possible.

Maybe that’s why I’ve been craving for some Nintendo magic for some time now. Getting a Wii U kind of took me back to a simpler time.

Kay Wrobel

I hear you. Did the same thing. I was actually A PC gamer, playing my Wolfensteins, Dooms and Duke Nukems asf. Didn’t even grow up with Nintendo games. Yeah, my brother had a Gameboy and I saw him play Mario on it, but I ddin’t.

Then I saw my sister-in-law play Mario Sunshine on a Gamecube, and I just had to get me one (in the guise of a Wii) to play that game. It was so very refreshing not to shoot someone’s head off in a frenzy, but to splash water over walls to clean up my alter-ego’s dirty work. Ah, the memories.

Then, the HD era came and sucked me right out of that Nintendo feeling. My Wii started collecting dust. Got me a 360 and PS3 and I was a happy HD gamer. And now, I even went back to PC gaming because those PC graphics are oh so delicious on a proper gaming rig.

But wait, there’s a nostalgia lingering in the back of my head. And how can I appease it? That’s right, with a shiny new Wii U. PC + Wii U = Gamer’s Heaven (please don’t flame me).

I truly believe that Nintendo games have that enduring, whimsical quality that make me enjoy their games so much more. How many hours I have already clocked into 3D World. Or Mario Galaxy, or NSMBU… But if I need to get my hyper-realistic graphics fix: boot it up, Steam, and let me have some good ol’ shooting fun. Come here my Bioshock Infinite, let me embrace your Vigors.

(Just waiting for the flamers to appear, but this is how I get my gaming fixes. Addicted? I’d say so.)

MerryBlind .

Totally understand what you’re saying.

WolfgangAmadeusMozart

What about Earthbound ?

MerryBlind .

Wouldn’t know, I never played it. I know, I know, I really really should, but from what I’ve seen of the game, it doesn’t really interests me…

iamserious

OMG this is the cutest most funniest thing I have ever seen!! That one kid with the button up shirt was like “uh this is stupid!” I don’t know why but I thought about Magnus! LMAO! Sorry. Oh my gosh how far gaming has gone. So incredible. Some of those little girls were very in the know too! And one of them who wasn’t so little looked a little like Arya Stark! Great video!

D.M.T

Are you serious? Please tell me you’re being sarcastic

iamserious

No no I really thought this video was funny.

MerryBlind .

I’m pretty sure he is serious.

CapnCrumbles436

His/her name is “iamserious”. Anyone else notice this? Lol

Kyle

ok but they should have showed the gameboy with better games than tetris lol

Jason

I hate Tyler.

TheSkeletonMan939 .

I’m pretty sure these videos are faked, or at least they’re set up like a reality show.

Johny

oh god… the striped fat kid… i so hope that the new generation won’t be like this… I SO HOPE

http://obaforums.wordpress.com DragonSilths

Hope all you want, it already is that way.

Jeff Jackson

Its not my 12 year old friend played so many gameboy games on his DS and he has a N64 and is about to get a NES or SNES

Johny

thats great for him ! I’ll teach my kids the quality too. Everyone should. I just hope that the majority won’t turn up like that guy. The worst thing would be a generation of spoiled “touch” generation not knowing the value of quality and not being able to appreciate or cherish technology.

zed

True….. so true

EmperorIng1268

I don’t get it… why dislike an older system, the first generation i played was the n64 and the ps1 (im 17) but i would love to play snes.

C4

Exactly. Played on a genuine NES only 2 or 3 times. It’s not that hard to appreciate it if you take a bit more time.

Of course if you’re on camera and told to act and then have a strange device for a few minutes reactions maybe are a bit different

Sdudyoy

I wish I could have grown up with one of those, but I grew up with Sega, which I loved, but I didn’t get to play the Nintendo games as a kid, I started playing Nintendo with the Gamecube.

Michael Ngo

“I saw this before; it’s an iPhone case” LOLOLOLOL

Michael Ngo

only the asian kid with the green shirt understood it all while this chubby little kid was wayyyyyyyy too spoiled with iPad technology *smh*

http://www.captincomics.webs.com CaptinnDaGameMaster!

I’m a kid from the 2000s, but personally, I just think the kids of this generation are stupid. They would actually prefer playing Cut the Rope or some crap on an iPad than on a GAME BOY with Super Mario, Zelda, and POKEMON. FREAKING POKEMON.

Well, I now lost hope in this generation of kids. If any peice of technology dosen’t have a form of a touch screen or some other fancy crap, then it’s considered a peice of trash by the kids of today.

That is all, people of the internet. That is freaking all.

http://obaforums.wordpress.com DragonSilths

There was no Zelda game on the Gameboy was there? Or was that Links Awakening DX?

C4

Kind of. Link’s Awakening without the DX (without colors and some other features they added in the DX version)

http://www.captincomics.webs.com CaptinnDaGameMaster!

Yeah, DX was better. You could even play it on the original GAME BOY.

Jeff Jackson

I am with you born 2001. I just wish apple was never made. Wii U for the won

Im from 99 and its just shocking to see kids these day, they are no true gamer they are just up to date with the trend, they say ‘you need button to do something’ seriously buttons are the best thing to have when you are gaming.

They like repetetive games rather revolutionary games pokemon just like you said. LONG LIVE POKEMON

http://www.captincomics.webs.com CaptinnDaGameMaster!

It’s just…I feel so sad for them.

“I would probably play this for 2 days and throw this away and get back to my iPad.”

-facepalm-

blarf

Something seems kinda off about these videos. Either these children are actors or they edited it to only show their most clever remarks.

Colton Kelsey

Kids react to Game and Watch.

the_battery

“its not like theres going to be any games on it”
I’m 15 and that comment frustrated me.

Adrian

Green shirt wins

Myles Rodriguez

I myself was actually born late 2000, and my family had a Game Boy, and when I was THREE, mind you, THREE years old, I figured out how to use it quicker than any of these kids did. Bah, this video just infuriates me.

I started off my mobile gaming on a SEGA Game Gear. I wanted that color… Too bad it was so power hungry. And my cousin broke it, otherwise it’d be my oldest system, currently SNES. But I did play a few GB games on the side.

darkcreap

I didn’t have a gameboy, but my cousin had both a gameboy and a gamegear. I liked the gameboy better for the games, but I also loved to play his gamegear. The gamegear was a better system in features due to the color screen. The problem is that SEGA was so ambitious that they released a product that couldn’t be energy efficient and cheap at the same time. In that sense, the gamegear was ahead of their time. The technology was not mature enough.

Same seems to happen with the Vita. It is way more powerful than the 3DS and see what’s happening. The 3DS is powerful enough for what it needs, not the most power efficient, but it is OK. And it is cheap enough and has good games. The Vita is a really wonderful handheld, but they priced too high and they were over ambitious. Handhelds have to be practical and affordable. This philosophy is what makes Nintendo dominant in that market.

Unfortunately, the “affordable and cheap” philosophy is what prevents Nintendo from getting certain games on the WiiU. Fortunately, they did it powerful enough so it is not that underpowered as the Wii was compared to the PS3.

In any case, I think that the current trend to grow in power has to reach a more stable situation. I think that probably in a couple of years power is not going to be that much a differentiation for consoles, since making realistic games takes a lot of resources and powerful technology to move those graphics is expensive.

http://obaforums.wordpress.com DragonSilths

Kid’s and their Ipads. That kid who complained about pushing buttons makes it suck. I just wanted to bitch slap that kid. The days on Pokemon Red/Blue where you had to sit under a lamp to play the game was what it was all about back then. Gameboy > Xbox One FACT lol.

Jeff Jackson

So true but I like Tetris a little more

Assassinated23

Wait a minute, kids these days don’t know how to play Tetris?! I thought that was one game everyone knew!

Leo

It’s scary how people can’t keep up with technology anymore. Just 20 years ago 99% of people knew the basis of the gadgets of that time even if they didn’t actually owned one. Nowadays with new gadgets deployed on the market everyday you see a HUGE gap between generations just a few years older or younger. For instance i see kids handling touch devices and adults struggling to understand how a ipad works. I’ve seen people just give up and if you go the supermarket you see everything in the same basket, touch devices, phones, notebooks, players, 6 types of gaming consoles lol… its all a completely mess.

CapnCrumbles436

People said technology would converge into one device lol. Heck they are still saying that. Not going to happen, not in a competitive market. Everything you said is true. Im tech savy and 27, but my 15 year old brother runs circles around me! If I cant figure something out I hand it to him and he will figure it out in a few seconds, even if hes not familiar with the hardware or the software. And Im the guy who always gets frustrated with my parents! “Mom its right there! Just pull down the menu!”

Spoon

A game is a game. A fun game is a fun game. Good games don’t care about aging. The only people who’d dislike an old game for being old would be spoiled brats.

Gordon Tillett

The Nintendo Game Boy IS my early childhood. I’m 21 and we had a Game Gear too. The Game Boy got all the play. Had a plethora of games I loved to play but I lost almost all of them except Pokemon Red and Pokemon Gold. Most of these kids are just ignorant and need to be taught the origins of what they have today. Most of them don’t know any better and grew up on 3D graphics is what I took from it.

ENDOT123

i hate kids lol

Epicstuf

Wow. Just WOW. All these kids do not know ANYTHING about old tech. Society today is worrying me.

gamingpalooza

I’m 28 years old.

The first nintendo I ever owned was the green Gameboy Pocket as well as the Virtual Boy. My dad had owned the NES consoles around 1987 and eventually handed it down to me when I became old enough to play it, and I literally played the same NES till 1998, as well as a Sega Master System…. and then for Christmas, in 1998, my mom bought me a PlayStation… but after that, I bought a N64 and SNES… and then I bought a Gamecube in 2002, a Wii at launch, and a Wii U last year.

Rinslowe

I liked the comment Gameboy/ Girl haha…
Change of the times. Nothing really in it. But still. Good point young padawan, good point.

bizzy gie

It’s called Kids React and they react to more than just old technology.

Cubester_64

After watching this, the only reason I am keeping my Kindle Fire (1st gen) is for Netflix. FYI, the only other easy way I can watch Netflix is my computer, which being a Windows 7 machine with possibly 100 programs on it, takes a few minutes to turn on.

http://www.twitch.tv/insanityraptor/profile InsanityRaptor

If my mother got me a Gameboy for my birthday I would shit my pants…not because it’s cool (even though it is) but because it’s fucking awesome to own the original fucking Gameboy!

Prizm

Gameboy was my generation’s 3DS, it was hugely popular. Sure it had no colour, but the technology just wasn’t there. Portable colour would mean 6 AA batteries every few hours. We put up with black and white because the games were awesome, and that was before the Pokemon craze.

Got some real classics on my Gameboy. Super Mario Land with its shitty sprites (the programmers hadn’t yet figured out all the tricks to make Gameboy games look their best). Mario Land 2 later blew it out of the water and became one of the best games ever released on the original GB. Spent many hours on Metroid II. AAA titles cost $30, but one day when looking for a game, I didn’t have enough paper route money so I took a chance on a $20 game I had never heard of. Turned out to be one of my favourite games: the original Kirby’s DreamLand. The Megaman games were great too. And all that was before they dropped a bombshell and released Link’s Awakening. I had a lot of fun in those few short years.

JCdude

And now, Wii U Daily reacts to Kids React to Game Boy!

Jon

“This game is addicting…and I lost.”

MewThree28

My first handheld was the GameBoy Color along with Super Mario Land, which was my first game ever

WarioForever

Really? One kid didn’t like Gameboy cause it has buttons to tap?! Majority kids on this video are stupid.

Jeff Jackson

You can watch netflex on the DS

Mike

6:00
I have lost all hope.

MarkyWiiU

I’m a 2000’s kids and my first ”hand-held” was a Game Boy Colour. I taught the games were amazing (And they are). I played Pokémon, Mario, Game & Watch Gallery, Tetris and all that good stuff. I spend hours on the games and don’t want to stop playing while these spoiled little kids would rather play a game like Candy Crush, Cut the Rope and Flappy Bird for 5 minutes… Seriously I just hope they don’t have kids that act like them. Though I need to give respect to Dylan ( The guy in the green shirt ) for knowing 10 times more then the others about the subject. ( Sorry for the grammar and spelling)

zed

These are the new generation quite dissapointing to see i mean i’m 15 and they say ‘you don’t need apps’ i actually love the catridges and the disk because you have something in your hand rather than virtually.

CapnCrumbles436

There are some pretty intelligent kids on here. I think that theyre fair minded for the most part, all things considered. Im 27 I owned the brick (gameboy). I had the official nintendo zip up travel case, the ‘Light boy’ magnifier, Tetris, Doctor Mario, Yoshis Cookie, Pokemon Blue, Heianko Alien, Home Alone.